Board delays vote on Nevada State Prison

CARSON CITY -- A decision to close the 700-bed Nevada State Prison was delayed until July 13 by the state Board of Prison Commissioners.

Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State Ross Miller said Wednesday that they first want state Corrections Director Howard Skolnik to give them copies of his closure plan and safety plans for the 140-year-old prison and other prisons.

They also want to see how Skolnik figured that closing the old Carson City prison would save $3 million in the first year and $8 million in subsequent years. Both Miller and Masto are Democrats.

"I want to see the secret plan," Miller said.

Skolnik said he had avoided releasing the closure plan to commissioners because he did not want to make public where he proposes to relocate the prison's employees.

Skolnik said all would be given jobs in other prisons.

However, some would be moved to the Lovelock Correctional Center, more than 110 miles away.

In response to Masto's questions, Skolnik said he would not be seeking to close the prison if he did not have to give one-day-per-month unpaid furloughs to prison employees starting in July.

All state employees must take an unpaid furlough day per month because of state budget constraints.

Because of furloughs, Skolnik said, the staff at Nevada State Prison and other prisons on any day will be at 80 percent of the minimum operating level set by an audit. Such staffing levels put them at risk, which could be avoided if inmates and employees were transferred to prisons that have vacancies, he said.

Gov. Jim Gibbons, the only Republican on the board, voted against the delay sought by the two Democrats. After the meeting, Gibbons said Skolnik still has the legal power now and in the future to transfer inmates to other prisons for safety purposes.

When Miller made the motion to halt -- at least temporarily -- the move by Skolnik to close the prison, Gibbons asked for him to define what he meant.

Miller responded by saying anyone with common sense knows what halting a move to close the state prison means, and those who claim they don't understand were playing political games and behaving like a "petulant 15-year-old."

Gibbons did not respond to his comment.

His spokesman, Daniel Burns, later said the governor believes "schoolyard rhetoric gets us nowhere. The No. 1 issue is safety."

Skolnik said he won't be closing any major units at the prison before the next board meeting, but in recent months 200 inmates have been transferred to other prisons.

If Gibbons ordered him to continue to take steps to close the prison before the July 13 meeting, Skolnik said, "then I would have a dilemma."

After the meeting Gibbons said he believes the prison must be closed for the safety of the Carson City community and prison workers.

"We are going to abide by the will of this board, but I am not gong to stand by and let the security of this community and these workers be put at risk," the governor said.

Gibbons said it was the Democratic-controlled Legislature that insisted prison workers take the one-day-per-month furloughs.

Before the July 13 meeting, the governor said his legal staff will determine whether he or Skolnik have the authority to close the prison without approval from Miller and Masto.

Twice in the past 1½ years, the Legislature has rejected moves by Gibbons to close the prison.

Skolnik on Tuesday contended state laws give him the authority to close a prison on his own.

Masto's office cited several state laws Wednesday that might contradict his view.

One law states the Board of Prison Commissioners "has full control of all grounds, buildings, labor and property of the (Corrections) Department. Another states the corrections director "administers the department under direction of the board" and that he "is responsible to the board."

But Skolnik noted in a letter to the commissioners that a law gives him the sole power to transfer inmates to other prisons for safety reasons.

During the meeting, two Nevada correctional officers said the prison is the safest in the state.

"Almost every square inch has gun protection," officer David Phleger said. "We can contain any situation in minutes."

Skolnik, however, contended the number of violent incidents in the prison system has nearly doubled the past two years because of the lack of staff.

Phleger responded that violent incidents have not increased at Nevada State Prison.

According to Skolnik, the typical inmate lives in a 72-square-foot cell, spends five hours a week outside on the grounds and takes a shower every three days. Nevada will spend an average of $20,640 per inmate during 2010, which is $5,000 less than what the average state spent in 2001, he said.

"But this isn't about our budget, but the safe operation of our department," Skolnik said.

Kevin Ranft, a correctional officer and a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 4041, said move to close Nevada State Prison could have been avoided if Gibbons had not vetoed a bill to bring four-day work weeks to state employees after the special session in February.

As part of that bill, Ranft said, correctional officers had agreed to work 84 hours every two weeks (seven, 12-hour days) and not to take furloughs. The administration initially had backed the bill, with members of the governor's staff even testifying in support.

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3901.